CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++pointersnew-operator
Arxel
Arxel

Reputation: 35

Can a pointer be set to null if new operator fails?

If a pointer is allocated with memory by the new operator and the allocation isn't successful, is it safe to set the pointer to nullptr in the catch block?

foo* var;
try {
    var = new foo[size];
}
catch (std::bad_alloc& e) {
    std::cout << "Error: " << e.what() << "\n";
    var = nullptr;
}

Upvotes: 2

Views: 651

Answers (1)

Abhishek Chandel
Abhishek Chandel

Reputation: 1354

An Alternate approach :

By default, when the new operator is used to allocate memory and the handling function is unable to do so, a bad_alloc exception is thrown. But when nothrow is used as argument for new, it returns a null pointer instead.

Therefore in your case you can also use the below syntax.

foo* var = new (std::nothrow) foo[size];

if (var == nullptr)
{
   //allocation failed
}

Upvotes: 12

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